I booked this cruise nine months in advance for me and my spouse. I considered it such a good value that I informed family and friends to join us. As soon as I decided to do this, all guests had to go through GROUP CRUISES. Two problems: Group cruises attempted to charge guests a higher rate than that listed on the website. It became such a problem, I emailed the president of RCCL (To which an escalation service rep responded). After much debate, RCCL refunded the money to those who were charged a higher rate. Second, all guests had to conduct any business regarding our cruise by CALLING group reservations (NO INTERNET) which resulted in long wait times. Quite a problem for guests attempting to book or get through to make payments. I felt as though once we were a group, we were treated as second class in service. I did not do this for the commission or cruise credit, and at one point told RCCL personnel in my emails. $300 for recruiting 19 people....give me a break. I had a cocktail party for all our guests the first night on the ship.
I purchased the ROYAL REPLENISH soda package. In 2014 I cruised on Celebrity and purchased the same or similar. When selling this package all the advertisements show a bucket full of premium still and bubbly water, soft drinks, juices, etc. It's a hoax. I am diabetic and mix one-half regular coke with one-half club soda. In the Windjammer Dining area the CLUB SODA fountain did not work the whole week while on the cruise.In order to get club soda I had to speak to a manager, who in turn would send an employee to the bar for a can of club soda. By the third night (Monday) I gave up on this. When requesting water, you are only given a small bottle of Geyser Peak Water. If you want a large bottle of any water it is an additional charge (Celebrity there was no additional charge). And any type of name brand soda was either from the soda fountain or they poured from a can, but would not give you a whole can. (Celebrity you received a whole can). For $150 a week this package is a hefty price, especially when you don't receive the product being advertised. I would have thought the Windjammer food manager would have done something (Like fixing the soda fountain).
Dining: There were 19 of us in our group. We requested that our 2 tables at the later seating be place next to one another to guarantee we had the same wait staff each night. Also, to enable group members to move between the two tables to socialize and get to know other guests in our party. When requesting this, our GROUP RESERVATIONS CUSTOMER SERVICE representative did not respond. I have done this on previous cruises, the day we boarded the ship we went to the dining room and spoke with the Head Waiter (Maitre D) to make sure tables were next to one another with same wait staff. He assured us so. Get to dinner that evening and the tables were back to back rather than next to one another. This meant different wait staff at both tables. Which was extremely confusing more for the wait staff. Plus I think it affected any additional gratuities from guests or confusing to figure it out.